APALSA Hosts Eleventh Annual Asian Pacific Americans and the Law Dinner
On Wednesday, April 18, 2018, the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) hosted its Eleventh Annual Asian Pacific Americans and the Law Dinner to highlight the continuing need to empower and encourage the participation of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community in the legal profession. The dinner recognized AUWCL alumni and students who have made significant contributions to the APA community. Distinguished guests included the Honorable Jeannie Hong '92, associate judge of Baltimore City Circuit Court, 8th Judicial Circuit, and Eric Huang '05, assistant general counsel for the FBI, founder of junkfoodguy.com, and former assistant attorney general for D.C.
During the dinner, APALSA recognized the important contributions of AUWCL’s Asian Pacific American alumni. Keynote Speaker Sung Chang '11, director of Innovation and Intellectual Property at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, shared his law school journey and encouraged law students to live a life committed to service and empowering others. Chad Guo ’13, attorney advisor at the Federal Communications Commission’s Industry Analysis Division, received the Distinguished Alumni Award for his contributions to the APA legal community. During his time at AUWCL, Guo participated in the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic and served as a member of the American University Law Review.
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Tarja Cajudo ’18 received the APALSA Student Leadership Award for her outstanding service leading various students groups. She is a student attorney with AUWCL’s Women and the Law Clinic, the Student Bar Association Veterans Liaison, and former Social & Cultural Chair of APALSA. Cajudo represented the school at the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition in 2016 and later coached two teams that competed in 2017. She is also the associate executive editor of Volume 33's American University International Law Review, which published her comment entitled Japan’s Failure to Protect Japanese-American Children from International Parental Kidnapping in Violation of The Hague Convention on Child Abduction.
At the dinner’s close, APALSA’s President-Elect Shally Kim highlighted APALSA’s objectives for the upcoming academic year. She discussed the barriers that APAs still face in the legal industry, and how APALSA plans to address and raise awareness on issues affecting APA communities, such as the "model minority" myth, mental health, underrepresentation and lack of inclusion—particularly in law firm leadership, judgeships, and government roles. She shared how APALSA plans to collaborate with AUWCL’s student affinity groups to promote the professional development of people of color in the legal profession and advocate for equal opportunity in the workplace.